Russia claims the North Pole!

[HumanePain]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1811

Ready for Armageddon? Armageddon outta here! The U.S. won't take this quietly. This will be like a divorce court splitting assets on steroids!

[Cyntrox]

I doubt it will happen. There's no way the US will just let them take it.

[PinstripesAndPithHelmets]

Ooohh... This is interesting. I smell some old-school Imperial flag planting coming on. As we all know, the lines on a map are one thing, but possession is 9/10 if the law, and the other 1/10 is having the muscle to keep what you've got. This should make for some interesting newscasts.

[PinstripesAndPithHelmets]

Originally Posted by Cyntrox

I doubt it will happen. There's no way the US will just let them take it.

Don't be too sure. There's no way for us to STOP them if they try. Our military forces are small, and stretched to a pathetically thin degree. We can't even handle Iraq, so what can we do against Russia?

[Drake Dun]

Life is like a bad dream, except you never wake up from it, and the writing is much, much worse.

Drake

[Renatus]

Our army is streched, not our navy. The fighting over in the middle east does not require any of our naval power. As far as I can see the army couldn't help much up there..

[HumanePain]

I am looking for a cave in the mountains. Load up the car with water, canned goods and can opener baby! Most wars are started over economics, and this has huge impact on economics: a lot to gain, and a lot to lose.

[Drake Dun]

Right. Now we've heard that from the "America's army is not strong enough" camp and the "America's army is strong enough" camp. Unfortunately for both camps, and for Bush and Putin, I have just gotten out my ruler and established by way of irrefutable scientific evidence that my dick is longer, although not long enough to reach to the North pole or to tap an oil well.

Humanity should have stuck to jumping and screaming and flinging shit. Know your talents.

Drake

[PinstripesAndPithHelmets]

My money says the Spaniards get it all. They've got Caravels and those nifty tin hats that curve up at the ends. All they'll have to do is convince the penguins and seals that they are the long awaited, pale-skinned gods of legend and the day will belong to Espana!

[Cyntrox]

Originally Posted by PinstripesAndPithHelmets

Don't be too sure. There's no way for us to STOP them if they try. Our military forces are small, and stretched to a pathetically thin degree. We can't even handle Iraq, so what can we do against Russia?

"Our" army is not the only thing that can stop the Russians. I doubt they'll dare all-out war anyways, since other parts of the world is likely to interfere too.

[PinstripesAndPithHelmets]

Yes, like the Spaniards. Those filthy cossacks wouldn't DARE raise their sword arms against the Spanish, with their metal clothes and firesticks. I'm sure that Ferdinand and Isabella are plotting RIGHT NOW about how to get all those delicious diamonds back to the Iberian.

[Splintered]

Great. They can take Santa Claus for all I care.

But, Russia needs to remember that Canada has just as much of a claim to it as they do.

They also need to remember that just because they might want to have a claim to the land, doesn't make it theirs either.

And they also (finally) need to remember that it is the north fucking pole! It's a sheet of ice. If you want to waste that much money colonizing it, go ahead.

[ArtificialOne]

Army stretched? I didn't think we had more than 160,000 troops in the middle east. I thought we had a tad over 500,000? And yes, are navy is the best in the world and is just lurking around the globe. Sadly if
russia wants to start something they might want to pay and feed their army first. It'd be sad to see starving soldiers surrendering again like the gulf war.

And before someone says were losing in Iraq...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...030901839.html

http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll...107100037/1006

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/P...rge_is_working

New Operation working: Real people there, and on the ground.
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/0...on-on-ope.html

Although I technically believe we've won the war. As in, No wmds, no more saddam, etc. Nation building though is a black art. It took germany decades to recover, and even today they have problems such as high unemployment and a fairly influential nazi element just under the surface. I think the Iraqis have failed. They obviously don't want to run themselves well. Although there have been signs they are starting to fight back and such. Maybe they will get it together enough to pull themselves up. But, with three decades of Saddam, they should have done it sooner. We win because we achieved the main military objectives. They lose becuase they can't get there act together.

[Lapin]

Originally Posted by Splintered

Great. They can take Santa Claus for all I care.

And they also (finally) need to remember that it is the north fucking pole! It's a sheet of ice. If you want to waste that much money colonizing it, go ahead.

He doesn't want to colonize it, he wants to tear it to pieces for oil.

And I thought Santa was actually from some Eastern European area......you know, that story might come from Russia, actually, I forget.

[Splintered]

I thought the story of Santa came from Germany, but I could be wrong.
Anyway, if he wants it for oil, good for him. He can waste the resources trying to get it all he wants.

[PinstripesAndPithHelmets]

Originally Posted by ArtificialOne

Army stretched? I didn't think we had more than 160,000 troops in the middle east. I thought we had a tad over 500,000? And yes, are navy is the best in the world and is just lurking around the globe. Sadly if
russia wants to start something they might want to pay and feed their army first. It'd be sad to see starving soldiers surrendering again like the gulf war.




Although I technically believe we've won the war. As in, No wmds, no more saddam, etc. Nation building though is a black art. It took germany decades to recover, and even today they have problems such as high unemployment and a fairly influential nazi element just under the surface. I think the Iraqis have failed.

Honestly, are you retarded? Is there some trick to taking all the bullshit and transmogrifying it into a bed of roses? Do you remember Bush telling us that we would establish a working Democracy in SIX MONTHS? Yeah, that was back in 2003. Now, I'm no mathamagician, but I think there are more than 6 months in 4 years.


The whole comparison to Nazi Germany is puerile and stupid. The two situations are nothing alike. Germany was a highly developed nation BEFORE it was destroyed, and Iraq was not. Germany was needed as a buffer zone between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies, while Iraq is only needed for cushy kickbacks and reconstruction contracts. The Germans understood the principles of elected government (and yes, I realize that the Weimar Republic was a failure, but at least they knew how to have an election), while Iraq, only a recently created geopolitical entity, has been under one type of tribal system of government or another since the dawn of time.

Just because we were on the winning side in World War II doesn't mean that we should compare every fucking situation this nation comes across to it. World War II was the exception to the rule; great big slugfests with evil, genocidal crapfaces almost never happen; a clusterfuck perpetrated by a greedy, corrupt regime to enrich itself and bamboozle its citizens is far more likely. The only winners here are Halliburton's majority stockholders.

They obviously don't want to run themselves well. Although there have been signs they are starting to fight back and such. Maybe they will get it together enough to pull themselves up. But, with three decades of Saddam, they should have done it sooner. We win because we achieved the main military objectives. They lose becuase they can't get there act together.

Yeeaaahh.... Taking the only secular government in the entire middle east and knocking it into a cocked fucking hat was a real stroke of... something.


Here's a thought: If people have food, power, running water, and sanitation, even under a meaniepants dictator, it's better than having NONE of those things under a "freely elected democracy." There's a reason that parts of the world don't have Democratic Republics: THEY DON'T HAVE THE PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS TO SUPPORT ONE.

THAT is why their government is failing. They don't want it enough because it was forced on them, and even if they did want it, they couldn't support it.






Wow, it's like a White House press conference, except Tony Snow ISN'T being paid for it! I guess I've underestimated the potential for piles of shit to take root in gullible minds

[Katanshin]

Have any of you actually READ the article? Jesus...

[PinstripesAndPithHelmets]

Yes. Yes I have. I just went off on a tangent. Jesus has nothing to do with it.

[Cyntrox]

Originally Posted by Splintered

Anyway, if he wants it for oil, good for him. He can waste the resources trying to get it all he wants.

Well, it's not that easy... I'm by no means an expert, but if they start destroying the north pole, it can seriously screw up the global environment I think.

[Cyntrox]

Originally Posted by Katanshin

Have any of you actually READ the article? Jesus...

Yeah, I have.

[Clockwork]

Great, so now everyone's going to be scrambling for this chunk of ice up North. I wasn't aware it contained such valuable assets. Why wasn't it attempted earlier?

[PinstripesAndPithHelmets]

Apparently, an international commission has deemed that it is a separate geological feature, which means that all the nations surrounding the North Pole cannot lay legitimate claim to it.

This is all very 19th century. I'm loving it. Shackleton's ghost must be dancing a jig!

[Cyntrox]

Originally Posted by PinstripesAndPithHelmets

Apparently, an international commission has deemed that it is a separate geological feature, which means that all the nations surrounding the North Pole cannot lay legitimate claim to it.

And that is exactly why I said I doubt they would get it

[Lapin]

Maybe he was from Germany. I'm thinking a very, very cold place...

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the North Pole is under the same rules as the South, in that it cannot be claimed by any country and can only be used for scientific research.

[PinstripesAndPithHelmets]

Originally Posted by Cyntrox

And that is exactly why I said I doubt they would get it

You are most likely correct. I, however, reserve the right to be a belligerent dick.